Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Unforgettable Invention of China - Paper

Paper is one of
the greatest inventions of mankind. Without paper, man could not have written
records for the future to know their history. Without paper, calculations and
blueprints would not be produce to help the advancement of science and
technology. Without paper, there would be no such thing as paper currency and
all of us would be carrying heavy coins every day. The creation of paper was
credited to none other than the Chinese. The Chinese developed a paper making
technique, which would make a writable piece of paper.Throughout
the 20th century, archaeologist have dug a lot of pieces of paper dating back
as far as the Han Dynasty. In 1942, a piece of paper dating back 110 CE was
discovered in Tsakhortei. In 1957, another piece was found in suburb of Bagiao
in Xian province. And in 1986, in Tianshi, Gansu Province, a map written on a
paper made of silk and hemp fibers were discovered. The papers that were
unearth were crude. It was rough and it was very difficult to write on. The
papers were also unequal that added further for its unsuitability to be written
on.

The
Chinese in the past usually use bamboo or tapa. A tapa is a piece of cloth made
of mulberry or fig tree bark that was dried and pounded. However, the tapa, as
said were very difficult to write on. In addition, the production of Tapa was
very limited. Firstly, the required raw materials for its production were
expensive. Mulberry trees were needed of silk production. The other viable
material for the medium of writing were bamboo scrolls. However, the bamboo
scrolls could be very heavy if piled together. Plus it was cumbersome to write
on.

In 104,
Emperor Ho Ti wanted to solve the problem. He ordered one of his brightest
counselors to take the task. The counselor that was given the task was Cai Lun,
an intellect from the Hunan Province. Cai Lun must solve two problems. One, he
must find cheap and common materials for making paper. Two, he must make a
paper that was good quality, it must be equal spread and writable.

In search
of materials for his paper, Cai Lun look it in the place were almost all goods
can be find – the market. He looked around the buzzling markets. Harvest
from different area converge upon the area. Bricks, logs, and many other
materials come together to be bought and sold. Upon roaming around he
discovered two materials that were very common and sometimes, taken for
granted. The two items were rags made from various trend from flax, to hemp, to
silk, or even linen, and fish nets.

From this
materials, he began to proceed to the creation of the paper itself. He studied
and experiment ways of turning his materials into pieces of paper. So he
decided to pound the materials together and mixed it together, boil it, and
scooped them with a frame with screens of bamboo. However, it was not that
easy. It was trial and error. He must find out the proper time of boiling, the
proper pounding of the material, and the proper material for the screen of the
frame. All of this must be checked and recorded by Cai Lun. It was a long time
of research. Nevertheless, everything paid off. He found out that adding plant
ash would help to form a good paper.

In 105,
he presented his paper to the Emperor and to the delight of him, many pieces of
paper were produce. The paper was made by the cutting and pounding them by
mortar; then, boiling with plant ash; finally, it was poured into frame with
screen made of bamboo. Later on, the materials in the screen changed with using
of reeds, rattans, and straws.

Eventually,
the paper making process continued to develop. The process made its way to
Europe via the Silk Road. However, the credit of paper making and the word
itself was not of Chinese in origin. Much of Europeans credited Egyptian for
inventing paper with their version called the papyrus, the root word for paper.

Thanks to
the observance and perseverance of the Chinese, the world had a material used
for writing, which would lead to the spread of ideas. Education improved
because of paper. Also, the world economy would never above trillion dollar, if
it was not because of paper money and checks. Indeed, paper is one of the
greatest inventions of the world, and also of the Chinese.